Eurovision Song Contest 2016
The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was the 61st edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Stockholm, Sweden, following Måns Zelmerlöw's win at the 2015 contest in Vienna, Austria with the song "Heroes". This was the third time the contest had taken place in Stockholm, after 1975 and 2000. The contest was held at the Ericsson Globe and consisted of two semi-finals on 10 and 12 May and the final on 14 May 2016, with all three live shows hosted by Zelmerlöw and Petra Mede. The winner of the contest was Russia with the song "You Are The Only One", written and performed by Jamala. This was Russia's second win since 2000, when Alsou won the contest with the song "Solo". Sergey Lazarev won with 361 points, leaving France on the 2nd place with a margin of 94 points. Forty-two countries participated in the contest. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia and Ukraine returned after absences from recent contests, while Australia also returned after debuting as a special guest in 2015. Portugal withdrew, largely due to their national broadcaster's insufficient promotion of their music-based media, while Romania had originally planned to participate, but was forced to withdraw due to repeated non-payment of debts by their national broadcaster to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Twenty-seven countries competed in the final, which was the first to be broadcast on live television in the United States. The Czech Republic managed to qualify for the final for the first time in five attempts since its debut in 2007, while both Bosnia and Herzegovina and Greece failed to qualify from the semi-finals for the first time ever, the latter being absent from the final for the first time since 2000. In the final, Australia finished fourth, improving on its debut in 2015, while Bulgaria finished third, its best result at the time since its debut and first participation in a final since 2007. Justin Timberlake performed during the interval act of the final. A record-breaking 204 million viewers worldwide watched the contest, beating the 2015 viewing figures by over 5 million. Participants Participating countries had until 15 September 2015 to submit their applications for participation in the contest, and until 10 October to withdraw their applications without facing financial sanctions. The EBU had initially announced on 26 November that 43 countries would participate in the contest, equalling the record number of participants set in 2008 and 2011. However, Romania were forcefully withdrawn from participation on 22 April 2016, subsequently reducing the number of participating countries to 42. Four countries returned after absences from recent contests: Bosnia and Herzegovina after a 2012, Bulgaria and Croatia after 2013 and Ukraine after a 2014. Australia also returned after debuting as a special guest in 2015, but by invitation of the EBU due to the associate membership status of the SBS. However, instead of pre-qualifying for the final and voting in all three live shows, as was the case in 2015, Australia entered the second semi-final and voted only in that semi-final and the final. Portugal withdrew, largely due to their national broadcaster's insufficient promotion of their music-based media, as well as a poorly structured selection process, while Romania were forcefully withdrawn from participation on 22 April 2016 due to repeated non-payment of debts by their national broadcaster to the EBU. 'Returning artists' Seven artists returned after having previously participated in the contest. Deen returned after previously representing Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2004, finishing ninth in the final with the song "In The Disco". Kaliopi returned after previously representing Macedonia in 2012, finishing 13th in the final with the song "Crno i belo". She was also selected to represent Macedonia in 1996 with "Samo ti", but was eliminated in a non-televised pre-qualifying round. Poli Genova returned after previously representing Bulgaria in 2011, finishing 12th in the second semi-final with the song "Na inat". Bojan Jovović returned for Montenegro as part of Highway after previously representing Serbia and Montenegro in 2005 as part of No Name, finishing seventh in the final with the song "Zauvijek moja". Ira Losco returned after previously representing Malta in 2002, finishing in second place with the song "7th Wonder". Donny Montell returned after previously representing Lithuania in 2012, finishing 14th in the final with the song "Love Is Blind". Greta Salóme returned after previously representing Iceland in 2012 with Jónsi, finishing 20th in the final with the song "Never Forget". 'Semi-final 1' Nineteen contries participated in the first semi-final. Russia and Sweden voted in this semi-final. The 12 highlighted countries qualified for the final. 'Semi-final 2' Twenty countries participated in the second semi-final. Italy voted in this semi-final. Romania were originally planned to perform twelfth in this semi-final, but were forced to withdraw due to repeated non-payment of debts to the EBU, resulting in countries originally planned to perform thirteenth or later to do so one place earlier. The 12 highlighted countries qualified for the final. 'Final' 27 countries participated in the final, with all 42 participating countries eligible to vote. The running order for the final was revealed after the second semi-final qualifiers' press conference on 13 May. The top-3 countries of previous year (Sweden, Russia and Belgium)